Nothing causes capital to flee offshore faster than an incoming war. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned that Iranian officials are rapidly moving capital out of Iran ahead of US intervention.
“As Treasury who carries out the sanctions we can see is we are now seeing the rats fleeing the ship because we can see millions, tens of millions of dollars being wired out of the country, snuck out of the country by the Iranian leadership,” Bessent said in an interview with Newsmax. “So they are abandoning ship, and we are seeing it come into banks and financial institutions all over the world,” the Treasury Secretary added.
Bessent said that the US is closely following the money trail. Over $1.5 billion was transferred to Dubai within 48 hours, with the majority of transfers happening through cryptocurrency. Potential successor Mojtaba Khamenei and the current Supreme Leader’s own son are believed to be involved in these money transfers.
It becomes harder to freeze and sanction funds once offshore, but governments will find a way. The UAE has applied UN Security Council resolutions against Iran, allowing it to freeze bank accounts of targeted individuals and groups. Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties (MLATs) require governments to share banking information and permit one another to freeze or transfer assets by leveraging tax treaties (TIEAs).
Cryptocurrency is not off the grid. Using crypto may make the task a bit more difficult for intelligence agencies, but there is a reason that the US immediately knew where the funds were sent. The US tracked the money from Iran to Dubai and will continue to trace the blockchain until they can safely confiscate the funds. Tools like Chainalysis Reactor, TRM Labs, and Elliptic allow track crypto transactions across various blockchains and provide information on transaction dates, price amounts, and wallet addresses. That information is then integrated into systems that cross-check the accounts with sanctions lists to map illegal capital flows.
Back in September 2025, two Iranians were sanctioned by the US for transferring $100 million in crypto through oil sales. Separately, the Revolutionary Guard was caught moving $1 billion through a UK-based crypto exchange. US Treasury Official Miad Maleki commented that “the $1 billion figure over two years demonstrates that digital currencies are becoming a financial channel for Iran’s shadow banking apparatus.”
The largest crypto freeze in history also involved Iranian funds. In July 2025, 42 addresses with exposure to Iranian exchanges were traced and frozen with the help of virtual asset service providers (VASPs).
Governments tolerate cryptocurrencies because they still retain control over them. Neither crypto nor Iranian officials will be able to flee US intelligence authorities. Iranian state TV broadcast an image of Trump’s assassination attempt at his campaign rally in July 2024. “This time it will not miss the target,” the media outlet ominously warned. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has lost control. The entire nation turned its back on the regime. It reached the full extent of authoritarianism and then murdered over 12,000 citizens in cold blood; there is absolutely nothing that Khamenei can do to restore the confidence of his people or allies. A US strike is imminent.